Editing Interplanetary spaceflight (section)

==Current achievements in interplanetary travel==
[[File:Jupiter from Voyager - B&W animated.gif|thumb|[[Timelapse]] of [[Voyager 2]] approaching [[Jupiter]].]]
[[File:Pluto’s Heart - Like a Cosmic Lava Lamp.jpg|thumb|The plains of [[Pluto]], as seen by ''New Horizons'' after its nearly 10-year voyage]]
Remotely guided [[space probe]]s have flown by all of the observed [[planet]]s of the Solar System from [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] to [[Neptune]], with the ''[[New Horizons]]'' probe having flown by the [[dwarf planet]] [[Pluto]] and the [[Dawn (spacecraft)|''Dawn'' spacecraft]] currently orbiting the dwarf planet [[Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres]]. The most distant spacecraft, ''[[Voyager 1]]'' and ''[[Voyager 2]]'' have left the Solar System as of 8 December 2018 while ''[[Pioneer 10]]'', ''[[Pioneer 11]]'', and ''[[New Horizons]]'' are on course to leave it.<ref>{{cite web|title=NASA Spacecraft Embarks on Historic Journey Into Interstellar Space|website=[[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]]|url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-277|access-date=20 February 2014|archive-date=20 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020191620/https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-277|url-status=live}}</ref>

In general, planetary orbiters and landers return much more detailed and comprehensive information than fly-by missions.  Space probes have been placed into orbit around all the five planets known to the ancients:  The first being [[Venus]] ([[Venera 7]], 1970), [[Mars]] ([[Mariner 9]], 1971), [[Jupiter]] (''[[Galileo (spacecraft)|Galileo]]'', 1995), [[Saturn]] (''[[Cassini/Huygens]]'', 2004), and most recently [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] (''[[MESSENGER]]'', March 2011), and have returned data about these bodies and their [[natural satellite]]s.

[[File:OSIRIS-REX SamCam TAGSAM Event 2020-10-20 small.gif|thumb|upright=0.8|[[OSIRIS-REx]] [[Sample return mission|collecting a sample]] from asteroid [[101955 Bennu]]<br />— ''([[:File:OSIRIS-REX SamCam TAGSAM Event 2020-10-20.gif|Full-sized image]])'']]

The [[NEAR Shoemaker]] mission in 2000 orbited the large near-Earth asteroid [[433 Eros]], and was even successfully landed there, though it had not been designed with this maneuver in mind.  The Japanese [[ion drive|ion-drive]] spacecraft ''[[Hayabusa (spacecraft)|Hayabusa]]'' in 2005 also orbited the small [[near-Earth asteroid]] [[25143 Itokawa]], landing on it briefly and returning grains of its surface material to Earth.  Another ion-drive mission, ''[[Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn]]'', has orbited the large asteroid [[4 Vesta|Vesta]] (July 2011 – September 2012) and later moved on to the dwarf planet [[Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres]], arriving in March 2015.

[[File:Wispr 4thflyby.gif|thumb|[[WISPR]] of the [[Parker Solar Probe]] took this visible light footage of the nightside of [[Venus]] in 2021, showing the hot faintly glowing surface, and its [[Aphrodite Terra]] as large dark patch, through the clouds, which prohibit such observations on the dayside when they are illuminated.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hatfield |first1=Miles |title=Parker Solar Probe Captures Visible Light Images of Venus' Surface |url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/sun/parker-solar-probe-captures-its-first-images-of-venus-surface-in-visible-light-confirmed |website=NASA |access-date=29 April 2022 |date=9 February 2022 |archive-date=14 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414155959/https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/sun/parker-solar-probe-captures-its-first-images-of-venus-surface-in-visible-light-confirmed/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Geophysical Research Letters 2022">{{cite journal | journal=Geophysical Research Letters | last1=Wood | first1=B. E. | last2=Hess | first2=P. | last3=Lustig-Yaeger | first3=J. | last4=Gallagher | first4=B. | last5=Korwan | first5=D. | last6=Rich | first6=N. | last7=Stenborg | first7=G. | last8=Thernisien | first8=A. | last9=Qadri | first9=S. N. | last10=Santiago | first10=F. | last11=Peralta | first11=J. | last12=Arney | first12=G. N. | last13=Izenberg | first13=N. R. | last14=Vourlidas | first14=A. | last15=Linton | first15=M. G. | last16=Howard | first16=R. A. | last17= Raouafi | first17=N. E. | doi=10.1029/2021GL096302 | date=9 February 2022 | title=Parker Solar Probe Imaging of the Night Side of Venus | volume=49 | issue=3| pages=e2021GL096302 | pmid=35864851 | pmc=9286398 | bibcode=2022GeoRL..4996302W }}</ref> Possibly representing the illusive [[ashen light]].<ref name="n420">{{cite web | title=Nightside observations by the Parker Solar Probe: implications for the reality of the Ashen Light – British Astronomical Association | website=British Astronomical Association – Supporting amateur astronomers since 1890 | date=2024-05-21 | url=https://britastro.org/journal_contents_ite/nightside-observations-by-the-parker-solar-probe-implications-for-the-reality-of-the-ashen-light | access-date=2025-03-14}}</ref>]]

Remotely controlled landers such as [[Viking program|Viking]], [[Mars Pathfinder|Pathfinder]] and the two [[Mars Exploration Rover]]s have landed on the surface of Mars and several [[Venera]] and [[Vega program|Vega]] spacecraft have landed on the surface of Venus, with the latter deploying balloons to the planet's atmosphere. The [[Huygens (spacecraft)|''Huygens'' probe]] successfully landed on Saturn's moon, [[Titan (moon)|Titan]].

No crewed missions have been sent to any planet of the Solar System. [[NASA]]'s [[Apollo program]], however, landed twelve people on the [[Moon]] and returned them to [[Earth]].  The American [[Vision for Space Exploration]], originally introduced by U.S. President [[George W. Bush]] and put into practice through the [[Constellation program]], had as a long-term goal to eventually send human astronauts to Mars. However, on February 1, 2010, President Barack Obama proposed cancelling the program in Fiscal Year 2011.  An earlier project which received some significant planning by NASA included a crewed fly-by of Venus in the [[Manned Venus Flyby]] mission, but was cancelled when the [[Apollo Applications Program]] was terminated due to NASA budget cuts in the late 1960s.